Ryan's rebuttal: Cut and shrink

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) used his moment in the national spotlight to lay out a bleak view of the nation’s fiscal health, saying the only cure is a conservative vision that relies on slashing government spending and reducing the size of government.

The 40-year-old Budget Committee chairman was chosen to give the Republican rebuttal to the State of the Union speech on Tuesday night because he is seen as an appealing, young visionary on federal spending. Yet while his speech sounded familiar conservative themes — “limited government and free enterprise have helped make America the greatest nation on earth” — Ryan did not lay out any bold new fiscal programs.

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He did not mention Social Security or Medicare — the biggest drivers of the U.S. deficit — and he did not propose any specific budget cuts, nor did he say exactly how much Republicans would cut federal spending. Instead, he gave a dreadful view of the current deficit, bashed Democrats for a “spending binge” and promised that Republicans “will cut spending to get the debt down” and “help create jobs and prosperity.”

Yet his hopeful words about the Republican vision were coupled with a pessimistic view of the economy.

“We face a crushing burden of debt,” Ryan said. “The debt will soon eclipse our entire economy, and grow to catastrophic levels in the years ahead….We hold to a couple of simple convictions: Endless borrowing is not a strategy; spending cuts have to come first.”

Ryan also used his speech to take a shot at the health reform law, saying: “Costs are going up, premiums are rising, and millions of people will lose the coverage they currently have. Job creation is being stifled by all of its taxes, penalties, mandates and fees.”

Ryan’s nationally televised rebuttal comes he prepares to take a prominent role in writing the GOP budget while countering President Barack Obama’s fiscal 2012 budget proposal next month. Republicans hope that he will set the table as the House confronts the president and his presumed allies in the Democratic-controlled Senate, in what looms as the most dramatic budget debate since the Republican-controlled Congress shut down the government in 1995.

Ryan did not sugar-coat the challenge. “Our nation is approaching a tipping point. We are at a moment, where if government’s growth is left unchecked and unchallenged, America’s best century will be considered our past century,” Ryan said in his speech delivered across the street from where Obama spoke to Congress.

And he delivered harsh criticism of Obama’s policies as president and his huge increases in federal spending. “Yet after two years, the unemployment rate remains above 9 percent and government has added over $3 trillion to our debt.”

As an ally of many of the 87 Republican freshmen—and even an icon to many for his cerebral approach and his willingness to tackle federal spending—Ryan gave early hints of how he will seek to reshape the federal budget.

“We owe you a better choice and a different vision. Our forthcoming budget is our obligation to you – to show you how we intend to do things differently, how we will cut spending to get the debt down, help create jobs and prosperity, and reform government programs,” Ryan said.